5 Ways to Use Pinterest for SEO and Build Your Backlinks

Written by: Jason Bayless | March 18, 2013

Pinterest is very hot right now – and it’s more than just a place to find ideas for tonight’s dinner, laugh at funny memes, or view photos of other people’s overachievement in various arts and crafts. Pinterest can also help drum up interest in your website or encourage user participation with your brand.

1. Pin share-worthy content. You can (and should) pin the most eyecatching product images from your website, but you can also pin the image you use to accompany your latest blog post – as long as it’s something people are likely to re-pin and you either own the image or have a license to use it.
2. Place a link to your website in the caption and information sections of your Pinterest posts. And if your photos are really snazzy, place your URL in the image itself just to get that much more exposure. The more people re-pin your post, the more publicity and word of mouth you get, so make the most of every pin.
3. Use hash tags in your Pinterest posts. Like Twitter, Instagram and Google+, Pinterest allows you to use hash tags to make your pins easier for people to find and share. Not only can you use hash tags yourself, but you can run a promotion in which you ask Pinterest users to use a unique hash tag in their own pins so you can track user participation.
4. Encourage others to pin your products from your website. Place a “Pin-it” button from Pinterest on your website, especially on your product pages, so users can spread the good word about your business. But first, make sure your images get the SEO treatment complete with a great “alt” tag and description using the most accurate keywords – that meta data is what Pinterest will use to describe your images.
5. Track your pins. Find out which of your website content people have been pinning by checking out your Pinterest source page: pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com.

Since Pinterest is a social media website, you should of course follow the same kinds of social media etiquette you do on Facebook or Twitter: If someone follows you on Pinterest, you should follow them back; if they comment on one of your posts, you should reciprocate by commenting on and liking their pins. Positivity breeds more positivity, and that means more followers and clicks for your website.

If you’d like to learn more about using Pinterest to drive web traffic to your website and read case studies that demonstrate how other businesses have successfully used Pinterest as part of their marketing effort, check out the Pinterest for Business board.

But if you are just getting started with Pinterest, be sure to follow the five tips above to build quality backlinks that will boost your website’s SEO. The more your content is found and shared by other Pinterest users, the better the chance that your search engine rankings will improve. Happy pinning!